What's Missing?
by evil-jeannie75
Summary: Neellant - Michael gets caught staring at Neela.
1. So You Have A Sister?

So You Have A Sister?

This is the scene in between when Neela gets the call from her mother and where Michael invites Neela, Abby, and Lester out for a drink with he and Valerie.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters associated with ER.

"So you have a sister?" Neela asked Gallant as they were walking to the admit desk.

"Yup, a twin sister," Gallant answered smiling. "I'm younger by two minutes."

"What does she look like?"

"I don't know try picturing me in a dress."

"That ugly, huh," Neela said jokingly. "Really, what does she look like?"

Gallant pulled out his wallet and showed her a picture of his family. He pointed each person out as he said who they were. "That's my mom, and my dad, that's my older brother Jason, and my brother Charlie, and this is my little brother Anthony, and that is my sister Valerie."

Neela smiled as Michael showed her the picture of his family. It's obvious that he is proud of them and that he loves them very much. "She's very pretty," Neela said looking at the picture of Valerie. "You two look nothing alike."

"Well, I got the good genes," Michael said with a smile.

"I'll make sure that she knows that," Neela said teasing him.

"So, how about your sister? What does she look like? Because if she's half as beautiful as you are, then her husband is a lucky man."

"Trying to get yourself back in my good graces, Michael?"

"Yeah, is it working?"

"A little."

"Good. So what does she look like?"

"Like me, except she's taller with longer hair and she just had a baby."

"Congratulations."

"You've already congratulated me."

"Well, I'm congratulating you again. It's a wonderful thing being an aunt or an uncle. You get to teach your niece or nephew bad things and you also get to tell them embarrassing stories about when their parents were growing up."

"I bet your siblings have a lot about you."

"Sure do," Michael said. He paused realizing that he was just insulted. "Hey, well what about you? I bet that your sister has some embarrassing stories about you too."

"A few."

Michael laughed. He was having a good time talking to Neela. He always had a good time talking to Neela. They pretty much had a good time whenever they were together. Michael looked at his watch. It was almost three. Valerie will be here soon.

"What am I boring you, Michael? And so soon? I thought that we had at least five more minutes to go before we got to the surrepitiously-looking-at-my-watch-trying-to-think-of-a-way-to-leave-without-pissing-Neela-off stage."

"You could never bore me," Michael said with a grin. "It's just that, my sister will be here soon and I have to think of an excuse as to why I don't have a girlfriend. She's always bugging me about how I'm young and sort of good-looking and I should be dating as many women as I can before I have to settle down and get married."

Neela smiled to herself. _Sort of good-looking? Not even close. How about absolutely gorgeous._ His sister sounded just like her sister. Her sister bothered her about the same things. "Sounds like your sister and my sister should get together and have a chat."

"That sounds like a good idea," Michael said. "Then, as soon as we introduce them and see that they are getting on well, we can ditch them."

Neela laughed. That's one of things that she loves about Michael. He can always make her laugh. "Definitely."

Michael paused a minute before asking his next question. He took a deep breath and asked, "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't know where Valerie and I are going to go yet, but I was wondering if you'd like to join us?"

"I'm on for a little while longer. I wouldn't want to hold the two of you up," Neela paused, "but if you tell me where you'll be I could meet you there."

Michael smiled, "That sounds great. I'll let you know."

"Okay."

"I have to get back to work. I'll see you later."

"Very good. I applaud your exit. Didn't piss me off one bit."

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	2. Catching Up

Catching Up

This is the scene in between where Michael invites Neela, Abby, and Lester to go for a drink at Ike's and where Neela and Abby meet Valerie.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters associated with ER.

"So how is everything in D.C.?" Michael asks.

"Everything's great," Valerie says. "The job is great. The people are great. I absolutely love the kids." She pauses. "How are things here?"

"Busy," Michael says. "I am pretty much always at work and when I'm not at work I'm sleeping."

"So, are you seeing anyone?"

"Nope. Don't have time."

"Michael, we've had this conversation before. You're too young to be celibate. You live like a monk. You've always been like that. I'm starting to think that you don't like girls."

"Hey, wait a minute," Michael said. "I most certainly like girls. I like girls a lot in fact and I do not live like a monk."

"Ok, when was the last time you had a date?"

"A while ago, but that's not the point. I do not have time to have a girlfriend. I'm at work all the time and it wouldn't be fair to her."

"You can't be at a work all the time," Valerie said. "And before you say anything, you can't always be sleeping when you're not at work. Who do you hang out with? Do you have friends?"

"Of course I have friends. And yes, we do hang out."

"Are any of them female?"

"What?"

"Do any of them have a vagina?"

Michael was starting to get a little uncomfortable with the conversation. "I wouldn't know Val. I haven't gotten that close."

"So you're telling me that there is no one in that entire hospital that you would consider dating?" Valerie asked.

"Nope. No one," Michael lied. There was someone, but she didn't feel the same way so why bother mentioning it.

"Really?" Valerie raised an eyebrow. She knew her brother was lying. He was lying through his teeth. There was definitely someone and she knew who. "What about Neela?"

"How do you know about Neela?" Gallant balked. How did she know that?

"Because whenever you talk to Mom or me or Dad or pretty much anyone in the family you mention her. It's always 'Neela this' or 'Neela that' or 'Neela and I did this'. You talk about her all the time and from what I can tell the two of you spend a lot of time together when you're not at work."

"She and I are just friends. That's it."

"No you're not," Valerie said. "You spend way to much time together to be just friends. Either you are more than friends or you want to be more than friends. So which is it?"

"Valerie look....."

"Why haven't you asked her out? You should ask her out. I'm sure she'd say yes. I mean she obviously doesn't hate you because the two of you are always together. I think you should ask her out."

"Look, can we talk about this later? They're going to be here any minute?"

"Who?"

"Some friends."

"It's Neela. Neela is coming? I finally get the infamous Neela. The girl that you have been crushing on for months."

"Could you keep your voice down. Yes, I invited Neela tonight. I also invited a few friends. Okay."

"Who did you invite first? Neela or the few friends?"

"I don't know. It might have been Neela. She was the first one that I saw and she passed it on to Abby and Lester. No hidden meanings. Just a friend asking some friends out for a drink. That's all," Michael said hoping that it would end the conversation. Truthfully, he had invited Neela first because he wanted her to meet Valerie and he invited Lester and Abby so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable with just he and his sister.

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that."

Michael looked at the door waiting for Neela, Lester, and Abby to show up. He hoped that the conversation would end before they showed up, but obviously he wasn't so lucky because who did he see walking into Ike's? Neela and Abby, of course and they were accompanied by Pratt.

"Shh. Shh. Here they come."

Valerie looked behind her and saw three people walking towards the table. She recognized one of them. Greg Pratt. The man who had shamelessly tried to pick her up in the lounge at the hospital. The two women she didn't recognize, but she was sure that one of them was Neela.

"Valerie, this is........."

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	3. Confessions Abby and Neela's POV

Confessions (Abby and Neela's POV)

This is the scene in between when Gallant gets called back to the hospital and when Neela gets drunk. This chapter is Abby and Neela's POV. The next chapter will be Michael, Pratt and Valerie's POV.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters associated with ER.

Neela and Abby's POV

Abby and Neela are sitting at the bar having a drink. They couldn't believe that Pratt was putting the moves on Gallant's sister. Especially, right in front of him. 'Gallant's going to go through the roof if he figures it out,' Abby thought. Every so often, Abby would look over at the table where the pair were seated to see what was going on. Each time she did, she saw Gallant in his own little world staring at Neela. No wonder he had no idea what was going on, his mind was somewhere else.

It became a routine. He'd be staring at Neela. Abby would look over at the table to see what was going on and he would turn away and pretend that he wasn't staring. Abby laughed to herself. Gallant really does like her and from the looks of things, Neela likes him too. She's just better at hiding it. Abby thought back to all of the times that he put his foot in his mouth when talking to Neela. Oh yeah, he definitely likes her.

After four or five times of the little routine, Abby turned to Neela and asked, "Why does Gallant keep staring at you?"

Neela's ears perked up. Michael is staring at her? She turned around to look and saw that he was very involved in a conversation with Pratt and Valerie. "He's not staring at me."

Abby of course saw the whole thing. He was staring at her, but as soon as she turned to look at him he turned around and pretended to be involved in a conversation with Pratt and Valerie. "Well, he was until you turned around and looked at him." God, doesn't this girl know anything? You never turn around and look at a guy who you think is staring at you. You do something subtle like take out your compact and look into the mirror to see if he is staring at you.

"He was not staring at me, Abby"

"Believe me, he was. He always does. He stares at you all the time. When you're at the hospital, at Doc Magoo's, at Ike's, when the two of you hang out. He always stare at you and from what I can see, you stare at him too."

"I do not." Neela was lying. How could she not stare at him? He was absolutely gorgeous.

"Yes you do," Abby said, "Come on, you nearly burned a hole in his back when he left to go take care of that patient and you spent the next fifteen minutes turning around and looking at the door to see if he was back. Come you like him. Admit it."

"I do not like him," she lied again. She really did like him, more than she cared to admit. She didn't like admitting it. She thought that it made her weak.

"Really? Then, why are you always so concerned about whether or not Gallant has a girlfriend? Why do you always fix your hair and check your makeup before you see him?"

"I want to look presentable."

"You want to look presentable to a first year resident? A first year resident who has less influence on the goings on of the ER than all of the med students combined?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean I don't care how I look when he sees me."

"Then why did you spend a half and hour fixing your hair and makeup this evening?"

"Because we were meeting his sister and I wanted to look nice."

"If you don't care what Gallant thinks of you, then why do you care what his sister thinks of you?"

"I don't, I just like to look nice when I'm meeting new people. You know make a good first impression."

"But what does it matter what Valerie thinks of you. You are never going to see her again after tonight. Unless you plan on seeing her someplace else."

"Like where?"

"I don't know. Gallant's apartment, the hospital, a wedding maybe."

"What wedding? She's not getting married. I don't even think that she has a boyfriend."

"Not her wedding. Yours."

"Huh?"

"You. Gallant. Wedding bells. Dum-dum-da-dum. You know."

"What are you talking about? Michael and I aren't getting married. He hasn't even asked me out on a date yet."

"Ah, so you admit that there is a yet. Which means that there is a possibility that he may ask you out. And by saying yet, you mean that if her were to ask you out, you might say yes. Which means you like him."

Neela didn't answer Abby. Instead, she looked over at the table where Gallant, Pratt, and Valerie were sitting and saw the waitress flirting with him. She felt like she'd been punched. She turned back to Abby almost in tears. "See, I told you."

Abby looked at Neela who was on the verge of tears. 'Wow,' she thought. 'She must like him a lot.' She honestly didn't think that Neela liked him that much. "You really like him, don't you?"

Neela tried to collect herself. She didn't like crying. "Yes. Yes I do. As you can see, though, he doesn't like me."

Out of the corner of her eye, Abby could see that Gallant was staring at Neela. Again. "I'm not to sure about that. He's staring at you again." Neela was about to turn around to look. "Don't turn around. Use this." Abby took her compact out of her purse an handed it to Neela. "Pretend like you're checking your makeup."

Neela looked at Abby with a skeptical look, but knew not to argue. She took the compact from Abby and did as she was told. When she looked in the mirror, she saw that Michael was looking at her. "He's looking at me."

Abby took the compact from Neela's hand. "No, he's staring at you and has been all night. So what's the deal between you two?"

Neela couldn't take the smile off of her face. He was staring at her. That's a good sign. "What deal? There's no deal."

"So you're telling me that there is nothing going on?"

"Correct. There is nothing going on."

"But you want there to be something going on, don't you? Because you like him. Right?"

Neela rolled her eyes. She lowered her voice, "Of course I want there to be something going on, but in order for that to happen, he has to like me back."

"Well, why do you think that he's been staring at you the entire night. Because you have a KICK ME sign on your back? No, because he likes you."

Neela didn't believe it. There was no way that Michael liked her. "Are you sure that there isn't a KICK ME sign on my back?"

Abby looked. "No KICK ME sign. But there is a SCREW ME sign if that's any help."

Neela laughed, "Thanks a lot. You're a big help."

"I do try," Abby said sarcastically. "Come on, Neela, ask him out. What could it hurt? He likes you. You like him. You'll get married and have loads of beautiful babies with genius IQs and perfect manners. Come on. Do it."

Neela laughed. "I don't know Abby. He's a resident and I'm a med student. We might get in trouble."

"Do you know how many residents have dated their med students? It's a normal thing. As long as you keep it quiet for a while you'll be ok. Think about it."

Neela looked over at Michael who laughing with Pratt. She smiled. "I'll think about it. I'm not promising anything, but I will."

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	4. Confessions Gallant, Pratt, and Valerie'...

Confessions (Gallant, Pratt, and Valerie's POV)

This is the scene in between when Gallant gets called back to the hospital and when Neela gets drunk. This chapter is Michael, Pratt and Valerie's POV. 

Please Read and Review

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters associated with ER.

Gallant, Pratt, and Valerie's POV

Michael Gallant couldn't believe that he was sitting at a table with Greg Pratt and his sister Valerie. Pratt was trying to pick up his sister and the sad thing is, that it was working. He couldn't believe that his sister would actually fall for that, but then again Valerie did have a little pink book as thick as Pratt's little black one. He couldn't believe that Pratt showed up. This wasn't how tonight was supposed to go. It was just supposed to be Abby, Lester, Neela, Valerie, and him. Abby and Lester were supposed to entertain Valerie, while he got some alone time with Neela. Instead, he's stuck babysitting these two to make sure that his friend didn't get his heart broken. What an idiot. Some friend he is. Showing up uninvited, ruining his friends plans. Michael's attention diverted back to Neela.

'Man, she looks pretty tonight,' Gallant thought. He didn't realize it, but he had been staring at her for the last ten minutes. He just couldn't stop looking at her. She was so beautiful. He could stare at her forever. Unfortunately, Abby had other ideas. Abby had realized early on that Michael was staring at Neela, so every so often she would look at him and he would turn away and pretend like he was having a conversation with Pratt and Valerie. Then once Abby turned away, he would go right back to staring at Neela.

"Hey Mike," Pratt said trying to get his attention. "Mike." Still no luck. "Yo, Gallant!" Pratt said loudly and smacked his hand on the table.

Gallant came out of the Neela induced daze that he was in. "What?"

"Nice of you to come back to Earth," Pratt said. Gallant had no idea what he was talking about. "I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes."

"Oh, sorry," Michael could feel the heat rise up to his cheeks.

"Is the view good from where you're sitting because from where I'm sitting, the view is excellent."

"hat are you talking about?" He knew that Pratt was talking about Neela.

"He's talking about how you were staring at you're little girlfriend over there," Valerie said.

Apparently, his staring wasn't just obvious to Abby. It was obvious to Pratt and Valerie as well. He had to do something to cover it up. Neela can't know that he likes her. "I wasn't staring," Michael said defensively.

"You defiantly were," Pratt laughed "You do it all the time. At work, at Ike's, at the movies. Pretty much whenever the two of you are in the same vicinity, your eyes are always glued on her like she's a big, flat-screen television and the Red Sox are in the World Series."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't. I have no idea where you pulled that one from Pratt, but I can tell you that it's crap. I do not stare at Neela, not have I ever stared at Neela."

"Really?" Pratt said folding his arms across his chest. "Okay, Ike's last Friday night. Neela, Abby, and Lester were studying at this very table. You not only insisted that we go to Ike's after work, but you then spent the next to hours staring at her. You stared at her so hard, that I thought she was gonna have holes in her by the time she left.. What was that about, huh?"

"What?"

"What was all that staring about? Did she have something on her face? Was she sending you messages in Morse code by blinking her eyelashes? What?"

"She did not have something on her face!" Gallant said. "She looked absolutely perfect."

"So you admit that you were staring at her," Valerie said.

"Yes, I was staring at her, but she looked exceptionally beautiful that day. How could I not stare at her?"

"What about yesterday in the cafeteria?" Pratt asked. "Was she exceptionally beautiful then?"

"What about tonight, Michael? Is she exceptionally beautiful tonight?" Valerie asked She decided to get in on the action. She always loved torturing her brother. It was so fun.

"Look, she's always beautiful, okay. She's always beautiful and I'm not the only guy who thinks so. Pratt thinks so too. Don't you Pratt?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Within three minutes of her being at County, you hit on her. Remember? I sure do."

"She's a beautiful woman with breasts. Plus, she's a med student. I always hit on the med students," Pratt said. "I think that you're jealous that she liked me better than you."

"Why would I be jealous? And why would she like you better than me?"

"Man, you didn't know her for a minute before you put you're foot so far in your mouth that I thought that you were going to have it surgically removed."

"What did he say?" Valerie asked. This was even more fun than she thought. She always loved the way that her idiot brother acted like a fool whenever he was interested in a woman and from the stories that she was hearing, he was defiantly interested in this one.

"Something about her being from India, which she's not, and some other shit. I don't know. I forget. But she was real mad though. I thought she was going to slap him."

"She wouldn't have slapped me," Michael said "Besides, I apologized for that."

"Yeah, and then you took her out to dinner. Why didn't you ask her out then?"

"You took her out on a date? On her first night at the hospital? Wow, I have a lot more respect for you," Valerie said.

"It wasn't a date," Michael said. "I took her out to eat because A) we were both hungry and B) she had a bad first day, so we had something to eat and I told her all of my County horror stories. No biggie."

"Is that why the two of you have at least two meals together a week at the hospital?" Pratt asked.

"We're friends. That's it."

Before either one could respond, they were interrupted by a waitress asking if they would like any refills. This particular waitress seemed to be very interested in Gallant, but Gallant was not interested at all. When the waitress left, Pratt said, "Dude, that waitress was totally into you? What the hell is your problem?"

"What?"

"Please tell me that you at least knew that she was hitting on you?"

"Of course I knew," Michael said. "I'm not interested. That's all."

"Right. Because of Neela."

"How many times do I have to tell you, we're just friends."

"Sure. Right. Whatever you say." Pratt wasn't buying it. He saw the way that Gallant looked at Neela and the way that Neela looked at Gallant. They defiantly weren't 'just friends.'

"Let me just throw something out here," Valerie said. "I think that the two of you are more than friends. You just don't know it yet. I think that she likes you as much as you like her and is just waiting for you to get up off your ass and ask her out. I think that when you do ask her out, not only will she say yes, but she will be very happy and very relieved that you finally decided to go for it. I think that once the two of you get it together, you will be together for a long time."

"Amen to that," Pratt said.

"I think that you're both crazy and that there is no way that she will say yes if I asked her out. She's probably not even interested in me."

"She is so interested in you," Pratt said. "I see the way that she acts around you and believe me, she's interested."

"You really think so?"

"Yes!" both Pratt and Valerie say at the same time.

"Go ask her out. What could it hurt?" Pratt said.

"Come on, Michael. She'll say yes. I'm sure of it," Valerie said.

Michael thought about it carefully. He really liked her and hoped that she felt the same way. He realized that he would never know, until he asked her out. "Ok, I'll do it."

Just as Michael was about to go over to where Neela and Abby were sitting, he saw Neela laughing with the bartender. She was so beautiful when she laughed. She looked like she was having a good time. He turned back to face Pratt and Valerie feeling like his heart had been ripped from his chest, "What did I tell you? She doesn't like me. She's more interested in the bartender who she's just met than she is in me."

"Really, then why is she staring at you through the mirror of her compact?" Valerie asked.

"Huh?" Pratt and Gallant said at the same time.

"She's staring at you through the mirror of her compact."

Gallant turned around to see. Neela wasn't staring at him. She was talking to Abby. "She's not staring at me."

"Well, she was staring at you until you turned around to look at her." Valerie paused. "It's an old trick. If you want to know if a guy is staring at you, you take out a compact or a mirror and pretend your checking your makeup. Instead, you check out the guy."

"I know that trick. I caught a couple of fine looking ladies pulling that same stunt on me," Pratt said.

Michael shook his head. 'Idiot,' he thought. Valerie seemed to be amused, though. "So you really think she was checking me out?" Gallant asked.

"You didn't see her eyes. She's was looking into the mirror, but she was looking right at you. You should ask her out." Valerie said. "If you don't, I'll get Mom on your case."

He didn't want his mother to have any part of this. If she was involved, he would never hear the end of it. "You really think she likes me?"

"Yes Michael, I do."

"Okay, I'll ask her out....maybe," Michael said, "I'll think about it at least."

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